The 19 middle school students, a mix of seventh and eighth
graders, had gathered for the last time May 14 to review what they had learned
over the course of the school year.

One by one the preteens raised their hands, introduced
themselves, and stated the gender pronoun they prefer before relaying to their
classmates and teacher what lessons struck them the most. Topics ranged from
stereotypes and various genders found in the animal world to gender
expectations and how to be an ally.

Next they discussed what they had enjoyed about the previous
week's activities held to celebrate LGBT Pride at San Francisco's Everett
Middle School, located on Church Street between the city's gay Castro district
and the Latino Mission district. One boy acknowledged he liked being a leader
during the Pride day workshops.

A girl explained that she had come to understand not to
judge people based on their appearance and actions for "everything lies on
a spectrum."

Asked to explain the importance of the class, Luorong Lamu,
13, said it helped her to learn about a new community.

"I didn't know much about the LGBT community," said
the seventh grader, adding that what she will take with her is that "you
can't judge people or bully."

Lamu said she plans to teach other students why they
shouldn't "call other people gay or a fag."

Fellow seventh grader Kian Lonergan, 12, agreed that the
class had helped him to appreciate people's differences and not to judge
others.

"I think the purpose is to learn about the LGBTQ
community and teach everybody else the good information and not the hallway
trash," said Lonergan.

The class was one of several taught at three of the city's
public schools, two middle schools and one high school, by the Lavender Youth
Recreation and Information Center. The LGBT youth agency's school-based
initiative aims to teach students and their families, as well as the faculty
and staff at the participating schools, about the LGBT community.

Begun three years ago, it is designed to leave a lasting
impact on not only the individual students but also within the three schools.
Rather than hold one or two day seminars about LGBT issues, LYRIC realized it
needed to conduct more in-depth training to ensure that the lessons seeped into
not only the students it taught but also changed each school's culture.

Once a week during their elective class called leadership,
the students at Everett and Buena Vista / Horace Mann, a K-8 school, are taught
by a LYRIC staffer about LGBT topics. While the middle school students tend to
identify more as straight allies, the majority of students taking a similar
class at Balboa High School are LGBT.

"We've seen a lot of kids take on leadership
roles," said Max Gardner, an eighth grade algebra teacher at Everett. "A
lot of kids changed their perceptions and tell other kids 'Don't say fag that
is offensive.'"

During the Pride day celebration earlier this month, a
handful of Everett students came out, said Gardner. One female student also
approached teachers to ask them to use a gender-neutral pronoun rather than
she.

"It's been a cool experience watching it and being a
part of it," said Gardner, adding that he is hopeful LYRIC will return to
the school in the fall.

Anayvette Martinez, the director of the LYRIC program, noted
that the students who came out were not enrolled in the leadership class.

"It speaks to how this impacts the school," said
Martinez, 33, who identifies as queer and is raising two children with her
partner. "We want it to be about a school transformation."

The students she taught this year at Balboa, for their
required project in the class, petitioned the school to set aside a gender-neutral
bathroom. Transgender issues are a key component of the classes, said Martinez,
as data shows students struggling with their gender identity face a host of
obstacles that can led to dropping out of school, drug use or suicide.

"Trans youth are more susceptible to bullying, truancy
and suicide," she said. "With the youth, I want to start that
conversation very young."

Data from surveys of students enrolled in the San Francisco
Unified School District during the 2011-2012 school year found that 1.3 percent
at the middle school level identified as transgender. School officials
estimated the total population of transgender middle school students at 137.

In high school, the data showed 1.6 percent of the student
body identified as transgender, with a total population estimated at 259
students.

Those identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning
was nearly 16 percent for a total of 1,639 middle school students, with most
selecting "not sure." In high school the percentage of LGB and
questioning students was 11 percent for a total of 1,770 students.

Sixty-two percent of transgender middle schoolers reported
being teased because of gender, while 38 percent of trans high schoolers
reported similar teasing. Close to 47 percent of trans middle schoolers stayed
home from school because they didn't feel safe, while nearly 30 percent of
trans high schoolers skipped classes for similar reasons.

Trans students, whether in middle or high school, also self-reported
far higher usage of illegal substances and suicide attempts compared to their
male and female classmates.

Kevin Gogin, the program manager for the district's school
health programs, cautioned that the data from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Survey is preliminary and covers a small
set of transgender students. The survey also marked the first time students
were asked about their gender identity – no other school district asks
such questions - so there is no comparable data yet to mark trends within that
student population.

This fall the data from the 2012-2013 school year will be
released, and Gogin expects the information will begin to provide a better
sense of the challenges trans students in San Francisco are facing. One
challenge that will remain is school officials do not know the identities of
the trans students unless they self disclose that information to their teachers
or other district staff.

"We are learning there is more we have to do around
gender variant students," he said.

Gogin told the Bay Area Reporter
he believes SFUSD is making progress, noting that
other data points show less bullying and students feeling more attached to
their schools.

"We believe both our broader outreach attempts through
our programs, policies and procedures and work with individual students and
families are making headway in creating safer schools for all of our students
including LGBTQ youth," he said.

LYRIC seeks city funds

Believing it has found a successful approach to create safer
schools for LGBTQ students, LYRIC hoped to expand its work to six schools this
fall. It had applied for a $250,000 grant from the city's Department of
Children, Youth and their Families to help cover the expansion of its
school-based work on LGBT issues during the 2013-2014 school year.

But the department chose a different agency to work in three
different schools than the one's LYRIC has worked in since 2011. It also did
not require that it include family engagement and professional development
training for all school staff.

Not being selected was a "huge disappointment,"
said Martinez. "Our dream is to expand it and now that can't happen."

Over the last five years LYRIC has seen its city funding
decrease by 40 percent, or close to $300,000. The Castro-based agency is
expected to receive $416,812 in city funding for the 2013-2014 fiscal year,
which is equal to what it received during the current fiscal year. The money will
fund LYRIC's youth workforce development as well as one-on-one case management.

The agency has been petitioning the Board of Supervisors and
Mayor Ed Lee, who is expected to release his 2013-2014 budget proposal Friday,
to fund its work in the public schools this fall with $150,000 from the general
fund.

"We will advocate for a supplemental
from the mayor's office to do this work but it will be on a smaller scale,"
LYRIC Executive Director Jodi Schwartz told the B.A.R.
earlier this month. "We will get that funding
– I am not planning for not receiving it."

Schwartz said LYRIC would then match the city funding
"dollar for dollar" from private sources and would be able to remain
in the three public schools where it currently works. Without city support, she
is unsure about the program's survival.

"I wouldn't say I am confident we can do it without
city investment. If I was confident, I wouldn't be asking for it," she
said. "I am being honest with the city about what we need to do with this
work."

Too often, noted Schwartz, city policies and the prioritization
of resources "fail to commit to the deep institutional work that is
required to shift organizational culture towards full LGBT acceptance."

What is needed, she added, is for the city "to take a
stand for LGBTQQ youth and fund a model that is designed to bring about deep
transformation and an organization that has the history and experience to
ensure that transformation will happen."

Mission High School sophomore Rexy Amaral, 16, has seen
first hand the impacts brought about by LYRIC's school-based initiative. Amaral
took part in the class while attending Buena Vista / Horace Mann. It led to
Amaral coming out as gay during the school's Pride assembly that year.

"Before the program, I was kind of lost. I didn't know
who I was," said Amaral. "After starting and going through the
school-based initiative, I learned how to be an ally. It helped me realize who
I was and that being gay is not a bad thing. Before I thought being gay was a
sickness; after I realized it wasn't."